Why December's hirings and firings felt very Trumpy


Of the more than 300,000 new jobs that were added in December, manufacturing saw the most significant boost in its employment rate, while other industries like broadcasting weren't so lucky.
After the Labor Department released its report Friday, Bloomberg took a closer look at the numbers to break down which specific fields are actually gaining and losing jobs. What they found will certainly please President Trump, who repeatedly promised in his 2016 campaign to bring back manufacturing jobs; the highest growth rate in December was in miscellaneous nondurable goods manufacturing, which rose 1.80 percent and added 5,500 jobs. The manufacturing industry overall had its best net job gains last year since 1997, CNBC reports.
The heavy and civil engineering construction industry grew at a slightly smaller rate in December, 1.57 percent, but added more jobs overall: 16,300 of them. The logging industry also added jobs at a rate of 1.29 percent, while petroleum and coal products jobs grew at 1.13 percent and coal mining jobs grew at 1.13 percent.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On the flip side, sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores lost 9,400 jobs, a 1.74 percent decline. Nondepository credit intermediation jobs fell by 4,500 (a 0.72 percent decline), the U.S. Postal Service lost 4,400 jobs (a 0.72 percent decline), couriers and messengers lost 5,200 jobs (a 0.67 percent decline), and broadcasting lost 1,200 jobs (a 0.45 percent decline).
Read more, and check out an in-depth breakdown of every industry's employment growth, at Bloomberg.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
5 inexcusably hilarious cartoons about Ghislaine Maxwell angling for a pardon
Cartoons Artists take on the circle of life, Ghislaine's Island, and more
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Crossword: August 2, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement